Construction workforce drops more than 11,000 jobs

Construction employment decreases led the April Labour Force Survey. (Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (3701), table 14-10-0355-01.)

Employment in Canada’s construction sector fell by more than 11,000 positions in April, reports Statistics Canada in its latest Labour Force Survey. Despite the drop from March, Canada’s overall employment picture grew for the month, with the economy gaining 90,000 workers, a rise of 0.4 per cent from March.

The general unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.1 per cent, and the employment rate also held steady at 61.4 per cent, following six consecutive monthly declines.

According to the seasonally adjusted figures used by Statistics Canada in its report, the construction sector had 1,589,800 workers in April, down from the 1,600,900 employed in March, and off from April of last year by 5,100 positions.

There were 1.3 million unemployed people in Canada in April. This, says the agency, is little changed from the previous month but cumulative increases put the number of unemployed people in Canada up by 256,000, or 23.7 per cent, more than in April of 2023. Canada’s labour force participation rate, or the proportion of the population aged 15 and older who were employed or looking for work, bumped up by a tenth of a per cent in April, rising to 65.4 per cent, the first increase in that figure since June 2023.

www.statcan.gc.ca